Junction Triangle

There's a new book being released tomorrow: Stroll, by Shawn Micallef. You may recognize Shawn's name, as he is an editor for Spacing magazine, a columnist for Eye Weekly, curator of the Murmur public art project (we have some installations nearby in The Junction), and much more. It seems like Shawn is always walking around the city, observing things, and writing about them. So it's quite fitting that his new book is a collection of various walks around Toronto.

Today, Torontoist features an interview with Shawn Micallef about Stroll. Our neighbourhood and the recent Fuzzy Boundaries naming project are mentioned:

Is Toronto particularly susceptible to that over-familiarization with the places that we spend our time because of the way that neighbourhoods here have such strong identities? They’re often quite small, too. It seems that every kilometre on Bloor, for example, the street signs tell you that you’re in a different village.

We do tend towards a kind of neighbourhood parochialism. Which is good. It’s good to have all of the services that you need nearby and to not need to commute across the city or in from the suburbs to get the things that you need.

In Toronto, we have these archetypal, wonderful neighbourhoods like the Annex, Little Italy, Kensington Market: these spaces of exceptional urbanism. Sometimes, though, the most interesting places are the neighbourhoods without a name, the in-between places. A neighbourhood in Toronto recently decided to give themselves the name Junction Triangle. It’s like they’re saying, "We’re not in-between anymore. Now we’re here." There’s still an in-between somewhere, but it got a little smaller.

Check out the Torontoist article online for the full interview. Shawn Micallef also has an article in the most recent Eye Weekly about the new book and walking in Toronto.

It really does sound like a fun book. I'm hoping to pick it up soon. I wonder if he writes about us? Unfortunately, the launch party for the book conflicts with our local Ward 18 All Candidates' Debate. Maybe you can drop by after the debate :-) 8:00PM at the Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas West.